The Medical Tent

[Ellie Kennigan]

No one was surprised when the feds announced mandatory medical examinations for everyone in quarantine. It had taken a bit of doing, but Ellie had managed to convince the Deputy Director to turn over medical operations to her care, citing the fact that having a local doctor performing examinations might go a long way to smoothing relations between the feds and the quarantined. By the time she took over, many of the leaf peepers had already been through an exam, but the Deputy Director had volunteered himself for Ellie's first examination, wishing to be fair. His blood test came back clean, of course.

After taking stock of the equipment available to her, Ellie sits down at the card table next to a pile of blank charts. She scratches out some barely legible notes on her clipboard, her bowed head showing sprigs of silvering roots growing into her dark hair.

[GM Note: All characters in quarantine will have been required to have an exam in the medical tent whether or not you choose to play something out here on the forum. You're not required to respond here on the forum for the action to have occurred.]

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey is one of the first to show up at the medical tent after Ellie takes over, looking fairly at ease in a medical setting. She carries her own bag of medical supplies with her, reluctant to part with it even now that they're off the island.

"Hello?" She does her best to 'knock' on the tent before entering. "Is this where we're supposed to go for the medical exams?"

[Ellie Kennigan]

"Yuh. Decided to get it over with?" the doctor responds without looking up, finishing a final note. "Have a seat." She gestures to the one cot in the middle of the tent that looks to be the standard issue for a field hospital. Attaching a blank chart to her clipboard and pulling a pair of gloves from the box overhead, Ellie's tone takes on that of someone reading a script. "As quarantined 'guests', we appreciate your cooperation in submitting to one--asterisk, amount may change without prior notice as necessary--medical examination to ascertain the spread of possible contaiminants." She offers a smile and a shrug as she steps over to her patient, saying, "We'll try to make this as quick 'n painless as possible. The quicker we all test clean, quicker the feds'll be off our backs, and you can all be on your way. Ellie Kennigan," she says, offering a hand.

[Owle Isohos]

The medic hops up on the cot and removes her purple overcoat in anticipation of the need to take a blood sample. Coat sleeves weren't exactly easy to roll up, after all. She raises an eyebrow at the legalese - especially the asterisk - but after a moment's reflection decides it's probably a necessary precaution. Besides, the doc is probably legally required to give out that disclaimer.

"Kelsey Graham."

She shakes the offered hand from her perch atop the cot. "I'm pretty sure none of us caught anything back there, but it's probably safer to make sure. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be spreading anything from that island out to the mainland."

After a moment's pause, she asks, "So how'd you end up getting roped into this?"

[Ellie Kennigan]

She shakes Kelsey's hand firmly. "Roped?" Ellie asks, stepping over to the tent door to pin it closed. It'd do to have a little privacy at least. "I roped myself. My practice might be fifteen minutes north of here, but we're still in Whisper Hill, and I'll be darned if the doctorin' isn't being done on my terms," she huffed. "Was on my way back from Pittsburg when the bridges blew out, and my car's electricals got fried. I was stuck on the island same as you," she grumbled, "so might as well do something productive while being decontaminated."

Adjusting her glasses and with chart in hand, Ellie shifts to business. "Have you felt any dizziness, nausea, muscle pain, or other symptoms since getting stuck on the island? Any prior medical problems that I as your physician should be aware of?"

[Owle Isohos]

She shakes her head when asked if she's experienced any symptoms. "No." Aside from those obviously caused by getting shot or being too close to death moths and diseased bears, but Kelsey decides not to mention those just yet.

"So, how much of the crazy stuff did you end up seeing?" Kelsey asks conversationally. "And thanks for doing this. I think a lot of us will be more comfortable with a local doctor."

[Ellie Kennigan]

Ellie scratches down some notes on the chart and gives Kelsey a meaningful look up over the frames of her glasses before responding in a casual tone. "It was a pretty crazy couple days, anyone could see that. Seems like a couple different groups of feds draggin' the rest of us into one of their messes. I'm ready to have 'em outta here, myself. That the crazy you mean, Ms. Graham?" During that last sentence, the doctor had pointed around at the thin tent "walls" and made a slash-throat gesture, then snapped her latex gloves on for the examination.

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey catches the look, and just smiles and nods. "Exactly. Bridges blowing up behind us, animals acting weird..."

She regards Ellie with a curious look on her face for a moment, but decides that a medical examination is not the time to try passing secret messages. "...It was really nuts back there. And I'll be just as glad as you to have them leave us be and go home. Not that I don't appreciate what the deputy director's doing for us."

[Ellie Kennigan]

"Mm," Ellie nods at the comment about the Deputy Director. She asks Kelsey to sit up straight and begins pressing a stethescope to her chest. The routine continues uneventfully. Stethescope to the back, and breathe, again. Say ahh. A light shined in the eyes. Notes made on the chart. "After the experience we've had here, going home," she emphasized, "is doctor's orders for the lot of you. Y'know, when quarantine's over. Roll up a sleeve, please."

As the doctor begins preparing a sterile syringe and vials, she asks with the directness (though not unfriendliness) probably common in northern New England folk, "So're you one of those darlings afraid of needles or are we gonna get through this okay? Blood work's mandatory."

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey raises an eyebrow at the emphasis on going home. Then she chuckles at the doctor's question.

"I'm alright. I volunteered as an EMT for a while, so there's not much in the way of medical equipment that can make me squeamish anymore. I'm not gonna give you any trouble." She takes a minute to make sure her sleeves aren't going to get in the way of the syringe.

"So what's Whisper Hill like? A lot of folks I talked to seem to have business there - it got me really curious about the area."